A swarm of bees briefly delayed the Kansas City Royals' 3-2 baseball spring training victory over the Colorado Rockies.

Edinson Volquez threw three hitless innings for the Royals, but the insects caused the biggest buzz when they sent Kansas City manager Ned Yost, members of his coaching staff and fans scurrying early in the March 8 exhibition matchup in Surprise, Arizona. Yost and his coaches like to sit on folding chairs outside the dugout, and the bees caused them to duck for cover.

"They're not going to mess with you, just don't mess with them," Yost said, noting that no one was stung. "Kind of like the Royals, don't mess with us and we won't mess with you."

The bees were removed in a plastic trash bag after the top of the third inning, as Lowell Hutchinson, a retired beekeeper from St. Joseph, Missouri, came out of the stands to assist with gathering them. With the scarcity of honey bees, Yost implored the bees be saved, not exterminated.

"I said, 'We ain't killing those bees. We better figure something out,'" Yost said. "Luckily we had a beekeeper from St. Joe here (and) they had already devised that plan, just put them in a plastic bag, take them out and let them go. We ain't killing them; there aren't enough bees in the world, boys. We can't be exterminating them."

"They're so important to our environment, they pollenate everything. It doesn't make any sense to panic and kill bees when you don't have to. I am proud the way we handled it," he said.

Volquez saw Yost rush for the dugout while he was on the mound.

"I'm just glad to be alive," Volquez said and laughed.

Bubba Starling hit a two-run, inside-the-park homer in the Royals sixth off Jason Motte while Paulo Orlando also homered for Kansas City.

"The bees were crazy," Starling said. "They were all over the place. All the coaches came in until they got that taken care of. There was some actually down in the dugout (and) the majority of them were out in the on-deck circle."

Rockies starter Jordan Lyles delayed warming up in the third inning when the bees were removed to a loud applause.

"That third inning the umpires told me to hold off, that they were going to take the bees out," Lyles said. "It didn't affect us on the field, but I'm sure the fans weren't too happy."

The plastic bag worked because it got the bees away from the field without killing them. It was effective for everyone.

jacksonb-kut

3/15/2016 - 07:51 p.m.

I wonder why those bees were hanging around the bag.

Honey.

zeusr-3-bar

3/17/2016 - 10:00 p.m.

The plastic bag was an effective solution because it got all the bees out without killing or hurting them.

My opinion on this topic is that the bees were removed without harm and every one won but not the losing team.

aaronm-ver

3/18/2016 - 10:01 a.m.

Why did the bee's come to the stadium and luckily they had the bee keeper from st.joe or else they would of had to think of something else. I think coach yost did the right thing by saying that they should just set them free instead of expeamenting on them.

bodel1-col

3/21/2016 - 10:33 p.m.

Because the bag is dark enough to calm the bees and its a tough enough surface so the bees would stay in and not have a hole where they could escape.

makemes2-pay

3/28/2016 - 08:13 a.m.

plastic bag an effective solution because it got all the bees out without killing or hurting them.

samuels2-pay

3/28/2016 - 08:27 a.m.

Forget baseball, let's talk about the bees! Bees are homies! They just ended up in the wrong place. If someone got hurt, it would be their fault, wouldn't it?

zhanettec1-pay

3/28/2016 - 09:03 a.m.

I think the plastic bag was a good way to gather the bees without cruelty.

jadenf2-pay

3/29/2016 - 07:47 a.m.

The plastic bag was an effective solution because it allowed the bees to be removed without injuring or killing them.

jacih-fel

4/18/2016 - 02:18 p.m.

The plastic bag was an effective solution because it got all the bees out without killing or hurting them.